Wilsonville man charged with stabbing three on Government Island

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GOVERNMENT ISLAND, Ore. – A party of 1,000 people turned ugly when three people were stabbed early Saturday morning, police said.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Brandon Cullen and accused him of stabbing three people around 1:45 am during the wild party.

Police and rescue crews were sent to Government Island just before 2 a.m. after a report of a fight and multiple stabbings. When they arrived, they found a huge crowd partying around a DJ stage.

The party was thrown by 360 Drinks and promoted heavily online.

According to party-goers, promoters also organized boat shuttles to bring people to the island.

The number of people celebrating swelled to 1,000 by the time the stabbings began, said Lt. Travis Gullberg, spokesman for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.

"To be quite honest, we were unprepared for that," said Gullberg, who said there would normally only be 500 or fewer campers on the island during the 4th of July weekend.

Deputies asked nearby police agencies for help and eventually brought 30 officers to the island. They were eventually able to work their way through the crowd and found three men who had been stabbed multiple times.

All three were taken off the island by boat, then sent to the hospital in ambulances.

One man suffered serious injuries, but the other two were stable, police said.

Cullen is the only suspect, police said.

360 Drinks agreed to cancel its Saturday night party on the island, Gullberg said, although he says there are no plans to cite or fine the promoter even though he said it threw the party without proper state park permits for loud music.